1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling operational parameters of a surgical drilling system for performing a surgical procedure or operation, particularly in the field of oral surgery, and even more particularly in the field of implantology.
2. Background Information
Implantology involves a technique of replacing natural teeth with artificial teeth, where the artificial teeth are secured to the jawbone of the patient. Dental implant operations are usually performed with a dental drilling system comprising a motor controller, a motor and a handpiece, with a gear train and a tool bit. Any of a number of tool bits may be used, such as a drilling bit or a tapping bit.
One step of the procedure involves the use of a drilling bit to drill one or more holes into the jawbone of the patient. The motor controller must be set to drive the motor to rotate the drilling bit at an appropriate speed to drill through the bone. The required motor rotation speed depends on the gear ratio of the gear train of the handpiece.
In a subsequent step of the operation, the surgeon uses the drilling system, along with a tapping bit, to tap the hole(s) in the jawbone. During this step, the rotational speed of the bit must be much slower than that used during the drilling step, so that, when the hole(s) have been completely tapped and the tapping bit bottoms out at the far end of the hole(s), the surgeon can stop the rotation of the tapping bit before the newly-formed threads are stripped by the tapping bit. Frequently, a surgeon finishes the process of tapping the hole(s) by manually operating a hand tapping tool. When using the drilling system to tap the hole(s), the motor speed is coordinated with the gear ratio of the handpiece to generate adequate torque and a suitable rotation speed. After tapping the hole(s), the surgeon screws threaded implant(s) into the threaded hole(s). Implants have a threaded male end for insertion into the threaded hole(s) in the jawbone, and a threaded female end for receiving a screw.
The surgeon now waits for the jawbone to grow back around the male end of the implant(s). After a couple of weeks, one or more tooth fixtures are bolted onto the implant(s) using one or more screws. A tooth fixture may be a single artificial tooth attached to a mounting surface having a hole for receiving the screw, or it may be a plurality of artificial teeth attached to a plate having one or more holes for receiving one or more screws. A screw is placed through a hole in the tooth fixture and driven into the threaded female end of the implant. The screw(s) are preferably driven to a specified torque to ensure a proper attachment of the tooth to the implant. A specially designed torque wrench may be used to achieve the specified torque. An abutment can also be used between an implant and a tooth fixture to ensure that the tooth fixture is mounted at the correct angle. Finally, the screw(s) are covered with a filler.